


so I'm someone to hold true, keep you cool in this good life

by Shadowcrawler



Series: What do you say, is this the time for one more try at a happy life? [5]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Dogs, Fluff, Gen, Ice Cream, M/M, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2016-10-25
Packaged: 2018-08-27 00:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8381551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcrawler/pseuds/Shadowcrawler
Summary: Mack comes over to hang out with Thomas and Stella.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So you don't necessarily have to read [the chapter of the mallverse AU](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2035785/chapters/18052762) where Thomas and Mack are introduced, but it might help? But basically, they're both in their early 20s. Both Mackenzie parents are still alive and Ruben (or for the purposes of this story, Mack) lives with them and is taking classes part-time and working at a motorcycle place, and he has a rescue pitbull named Spike. He and his brother text some and see each other when "Alfie" comes to see their parents, but they don't bug each other too often. Thomas got kicked out of his parents' house in his senior year of high school, when they found out he was gay, and he ended up moving in with his best friend Holly and her parents. At the time, Holly was pregnant and planning on keeping the baby, so Thomas helped out during her pregnancy and once Stella was born. After they both graduated, they both started working wherever they could get jobs and were eventually able to get a small apartment for the three of them.
> 
> Anyway, nothing of consequence happens in this story at all, but it's nice and they deserved something nice. I don't have kids nor am I around kids all that often, so I hope Stella is at least kind of believable. (Also...pretend it's like, August, which is when this was supposed to be finished.)

“Sit, Spike. _Sit,_ ” says Mack as the pitbull sniffs curiously at the doormat for a few more seconds before finally sitting and looking up at him with a big doggy grin. “Oh, sure, you’re being all cute now after you almost tore my arm off trying to get here,” he says with a roll of his eyes. Then he rings the doorbell.

Thomas opens the door and grins. “C’mon in. Hey there,” he croons, reaching down to scratch Spike’s ears. “You remember me, huh?” Spike snuffs at him happily and licks his face when Thomas crouches down to pet him.

“Sure does,” says Mack, smirking. “You don’t have to let him lick you though, you can push him off. _Sit_ , Spike.”

“He’s fine,” says Thomas, giving the dog a last pat before standing up. “C’mon in, Stella’s just finishing lunch, she-”

“Hi!” says a high-pitched voice from behind him. Then a little girl with disheveled curly brown hair, a fluffy purple skirt, and a Batman shirt comes running out, a huge grin on her face. “You’re Mack, right? You’re Uncle Thomas’ boyfriend? Is that your dog? Is he friendly? Can I pet him? Do you-”

“Stella, did you finish your macaroni already?” interrupts Thomas, laughing despite himself.

She gives him an impatient look. “ _Of course_ I did!”

“Okay, but I’m going to go check just to be sure,” says Thomas, herding the girl back toward the kitchen. “C’mon. Mack, you and Spike can hang there for a sec.”

“No worries,” says Mack.

A minute later Stella comes running back out, wearing a smug expression. “See, I _told_ you,” she says to Thomas, who’s right behind her. “Can I pet the dog now?”

Mack looks curiously at Thomas, who nods, and he says, “Yeah, go ahead. His name’s Spike and he likes kids. He might lick you though, so watch out. Put your hand out first so he can smell it.”

Stella steps forward with her hand out, and Spike, who is still sitting, leans forward to sniff it as promised. Then when Stella steps a little closer and pets his shoulder, Spike stands up and begins to lick her face, tail wagging, which makes her giggle.

“She’s always begging Holly for a dog,” says Thomas, smirking, “and when I told her you were bringing Spike over today she wouldn’t stop talking about it for a week.”

“Uh, glad to help?” replies Mack. “I brought a couple of his toys for later, if she wants to play with him. He should nap while we’re doing stuff though, I let him run around a lot this morning.”

“Can I play with him?” Stella asks, eyes wide.

“Yeah. He likes fetch,” says Mack. “But right now, you wanna play a game? I brought _Plants vs. Zombies_ and _Lego Batman 2_. Thomas told me you like Batman.”

Stella nods enthusiastically. “I love Batman! Mommy and Uncle Thomas and I went as Batman and Batgirl and Robin for Halloween last year. I was Batman,” she adds solemnly. “Some people were confused, but I told them they were dumb and anyone can be Batman.”

Both Thomas and Mack chuckle. “Smart answer,” says Mack. “C’mon, I gotta set up the Xbox. Spike, c’mon.” Spike trots after them.

Stella watches wide-eyed as Mack sets up the console. “We don’t have any video games,” she explains. “Mommy doesn’t like them because she sucks at them.”

Thomas snorts. “She’s not wrong. But I suck at them too, and that’s not a nice thing to say about Mommy anyway.”

“But that’s what she said when I asked if we could get a Wii!”

Mack laughs. “Well, you’ll get to play some today. I’m guessing we should start with Batman?”

“Yes please,” says Stella politely, walking over to flop on the couch. “You’re gonna have to tell me how to play, because I’ve never played an Xbox game before. Sometimes I play games on Mommy’s phone, but she doesn’t let me very much.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll teach you,” says Thomas, handing her a controller. “Careful, it’s kind of big.”

Mack puts in the game and goes to sit on Stella’s other side, helping her hold the controller. “Okay, so this game is really cool because you don’t have to just play as Batman if you don’t want to. There are a bunch of other characters you can...”

“No, I wanna be Batman!” Stella interrupts.

“Hey, don’t interrupt, it’s impolite,” says Thomas lightly.

“Sorry.”

They sit through a few minutes of introduction, Stella only squirming a little, before the game starts and they’re fighting Joker’s minions in a fancy ballroom. It takes her a little while to get the hang of the controller, but the excitement of playing as Batman overshadows most of her frustration.

“Hey, if you break stuff in here, you get coins,” Mack points out.

“Oh!” Stella immediately moves Batman over to pummel one of the tables until it explodes into silver coins.

Thomas laughs. “Only in video games do you get paid to break things.” He watches her play for a while, encouraging her as needed. “Hey, you’re pretty good at that,” he says as she carefully follows the onscreen instructions to aim one of the batarangs at Harley to knock her into the basement (it’s only taken her four tries, which Mack says is normal).

“You wanna try?” Stella asks, holding out her control.

“No, I like watching you play.”

“He’s right,” Mack says. “You’re getting pretty good at this. Kinda wish I had you on my team all the time.”

Stella grins. “Really?”

Mack nods. “My friends don’t like this game so I end up playing it by myself. ‘S more fun with another person.”

“Take that!” shrieks Stella at the screen, showering Riddler with kicks until he sprawls against the wall with cartoon stars circling his head.

Thomas grins at Mack. “She’s never gonna talk about anything else, you know. It’ll be ‘Uncle Thomas when are you having Mack over again’ incessantly.”

“Whoops.” Mack smirks at him, then says, “Hey, Stella, follow me. I think there might be more bad guys up this elevator shaft.”

\---

After about an hour of gameplay Thomas stretches and says, “Do you guys wanna get some ice cream?”

“Yes!” says Stella, almost throwing the controller at Mack in her excitement.

“Hey, be careful. Hand that to Mack again, please.”

“Sorry.” Stella takes the controller back from Mack and hands it to him gently. “Can we go right now?”

“Let’s go get your sandals on,” Thomas says, standing up. “You’re bringing Spike, right?” he adds to Mack. “There’s a park a little ways down from Ben & Jerry’s, I thought we could take them over there and let them play.”

“Sounds good.” Mack shuts off the Xbox and goes to grab his backpack and clip Spike’s leash back on while Thomas helps Stella with her sandals. He can’t help but smile at Thomas’ concern for her and how patient and gentle he is with her. Mack hasn’t spent a lot of time around kids, and he hasn’t thought too much about having his own, but with someone like Thomas, he can see the appeal.

Once they’re ready to go, Thomas herds Stella out the door and offers Mack his hand. Mack takes it with a smile - Thomas is sometimes anxious about PDA, so whenever he wants to be affectionate in public, it means he’s really comfortable.

Spike trots alongside as they walk, sniffing at everything (once or twice Mack has to tug at the leash to remind him he’s getting left behind). “I start kindergarten next week,” Stella says.

“Oh yeah? How you feeling about that?” Mack asks.

Shrugging, Stella says, “I dunno. I don’t want homework. Uncle Thomas always has homework.”

Thomas laughs. “Don’t worry, Stella, you won’t have as much homework as I do until you’re a lot bigger.”

“Can you read yet, Stella?” Mack asks. He knows she’s about five, but he has no idea about when kids learn to do stuff.

“No, but Mommy and Uncle Thomas read to me a lot. Right now they read me _Pippi Longstocking_ at bedtime. She’s really strong, and she has a horse and a monkey named Mr. Nielsen and she lives in a big house all by herself because her mother died and her father got lost at sea. She can pick up the horse and carry him around,” explains Stella. “She doesn’t know a lot of things because she lived on a boat her whole life and she’s nine, so her friends have to teach her about how to eat at the table and stuff.”

“She sounds fun,” chuckles Mack. Stella nods and then runs a few feet ahead of them to investigate something.

“Yeah, Holly loved those books when she was a kid. We’ve been kind of pooling our respective childhoods to find stuff to introduce her to.” Thomas smirks. “It’s been fun. I didn’t have a ton of books as a kid and...well, y’know, the stuff I liked wasn’t exactly stuff I was supposed to like.”

“Sorry.” Mack squeezes his hand. “How’s Holly doing, anyway? She have work today?”

Thomas nods. “Her parents sometimes take Stella while she’s at work but they’re out of town, so I’ve got munchkin duty for the weekend. Holly’s fine. A little stressed about the school year, though. I think she might be freaking out more about kindergarten than Stella,” he adds, chuckling. “Kid’s gonna be fine. She’s smart.”

“She seems great,” Mack agrees, watching her pick up a leaf and offer it to Spike to sniff. “I haven’t been around kids much so sorry if I’m weird.”

“No, you’re doing fine,” Thomas says, smiling at him. “I know it’s kind of a lot to ask, having you come over to hang out and also hang out with a little kid, so thanks.”

“Nah, it’s fine. It’s good. I’m good.” Grinning, Mack adds, “Spike’s happy. He hasn’t had this much attention in days.”

“Good. So, uh, you might wanna do it again sometime? If Stella wants?”

“Sure, yeah. I know she’s important to you.”

“Yeah.” Thomas shrugs, a little shyly. “I didn’t exactly plan on helping to raise a baby at seventeen, but Holly and her parents were so cool when...y’know...and it’s been really good. Also turns out I don’t suck with kids.” He grins and adds, “Or at least Stella, I dunno about other kids.”

“I think you’d be good with other kids, too,” replies Mack. “I mean, if you wanted to.”

“Thanks.” They’re quiet for a minute, just walking along, then Thomas says, “Hey, I know it’s a ways off, but what do you do for Halloween?”

Mack laughs, a little surprised. “Hadn’t really thought about it. Usually somebody’ll have a party or a horror movie night or something and I’ll tag along. Why?”

“No pressure or anything, but Holly and I usually take her out to trick or treat and we do this like, group costume thing. So I thought I’d invite you if you wanna come? I dunno what the costumes will be this year.” Thomas laughs. “Probably something from a cartoon. She’s watched _Zootopia_ so many times since we got it for her birthday that I feel like I could recite it in my sleep.”

Snickering, Mack says, “I’ll let you know. Could be fun, yeah.”

“Cool.” Thomas squeezes his hand.

When they get to Ben & Jerry’s, Stella bounces excitedly as she looks up at the menu. “I want strawberry cheesecake! No, cookie dough! No, Peanut Butter World!”

Thomas smirks. “You get one scoop, remember.”

Stella pouts a little and looks comically serious as she thinks about it for a minute, then says, “Strawberry cheesecake.”

“Okay, okay,” says Thomas. “Strawberry cheesecake it is. What do you want, Mack? My treat.”

Mack honestly hasn’t been out for ice cream in years, and he’s been a bit preoccupied with keeping Spike close so he doesn’t jump up on the glass. He stares at the menu, a bit overwhelmed. “What are you getting?” he asks Thomas. “I don’t eat ice cream a lot.”

“You _don’t_?” Stella asks, aghast.

“Stella, ssh,” says Thomas fondly, then says to Mack, “I always get this one called Empower Mint that’s mint with brownie swirls. Because when she was younger, _someone_ ,” he looks pointedly at Stella, “would steal bites of mine, until I figured out she doesn’t like mint ice cream. Right?”

Stella looks offended. “I haven’t done that in a really long time, like _forever_! I know better. And mint ice cream tastes like toothpaste,” she mutters.

“To _you_ ,” says Thomas, smirking. “Anyway. What do you like? Chunks of stuff, or more basic ice cream?”

Mack takes another minute to glance over the menu and then picks one almost at random. “Um, cotton candy sounds good?”

“Alright!”

A few minutes later they’re sitting at a table, Spike sitting with his head on Mack’s knee and looking hopefully up at him. Mack takes a bite of his ice cream and makes a surprised noise. “Didn’t know there was cotton candy in it for real.”

“Surprise,” says Thomas with a playful grin. Stella giggles.

“Not complaining,” Mack replies, shrugging and taking another bite.

Stella spends most of the time trying to eat her ice cream and tell Mack the plot of  _Zootopia_ at the same time, and after a while Thomas gives up on trying to scold her about talking with her mouth full and just tries to keep her from getting too sticky. Once they’ve all finished, she hops up. “Now where are we going?”

“You still up for the park?” Thomas asks Mack. “I figure we should let these two run around, burn off energy.”

“Lead the way.” Mack scratches Spike’s ear before carefully nudging him away and standing up.

Soon, Mack and Thomas are sitting on a bench watching Stella throw a ball for Spike. “She’s got a pretty good arm,” Mack says.

“Yeah, Holly thinks sports might be good for her when she’s a little older. We’ll see, though.” Thomas smiles at him. “Thanks for today. It’s been really nice.”

“Yeah, it has,” agrees Mack. Then he snorts and adds, “Hope my brother isn’t around. He’d call Mom and tell her all about how good I am with this kid and then I’d never hear the end of it.”

Thomas laughs. “Well, how often does he come to the park anyway?”

“True,” Mack says. “I mean, Mom and Dad know I was coming to hang out with you, but I didn’t tell ‘em you had Stella today on purpose. They don’t really care who I date, but they want grandkids pretty bad.”

“Wow, I can’t even imagine that,” Thomas says, but he doesn’t really sound sad, just surprised. “My folks weren’t...they didn’t like kids much even when we _were_ kids.”

Mack squeezes his hand. “It’s annoying, but whatever. We’ll see.”

“I mean, I’m sure Holly would be fine with all of us coming to hang out sometime, or just Stel and me.”

Smiling, Mack leans his head on Thomas’ shoulder. “Sounds nice, yeah.”


End file.
